


Looking Up (From Underneath)

by reysrose



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Anxiety, BFFs Rose and Rey, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Domdrop, Drunken Shenanigans, Face Sitting, Force Bond (Star Wars), Group Cuddling, Jakku, Jedi Training (Star Wars), Multi, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rey Needs A Hug, Sickfic, Smuggler AU, Smuggler Ben Solo, Smut, Starvation, Subdrop, Tags to be added, meet the parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:07:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22139806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reysrose/pseuds/reysrose
Summary: In which they're all part of a smuggling crew. Series of oneshots and vignettes.
Relationships: Kaydel Ko Connix/Rose Tico, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Ben Solo: Cunning Linguist

**Author's Note:**

> TROS was good but also made me sad. So I decided to decide they're all a smuggler crew on the Falcon.

Rey’s entire breast fits in the palm of his massive hand, something that will never cease to delight him. He cups it, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger as she shivers, grinding her hips down onto his face. He laughs against her, spearing his tongue up into her when she clenches and gasps. 

“Fuck,” she snarls, canting her hips harder and swiveling against his mouth. He squeezes the nipple harshly, the hand not on her nipple cupping the swell of her hips and rolling her against his mouth. He loves this. She knows he loves this. Rey collapses forward, bracing herself on the wall of the bunk instead of his thighs and he knows she’s close, her ribcage expanding and contracting rapidly. He palms between her shoulder blades, dragging her clit into his mouth and sucking. 

Rey cries out, the hands on the wall slipping down until it’s her forehead pressed into the durasteel as she shivers. He shifts her so she’s no longer on his face, sitting up and bracing her against his chest as she gasps. One of her small hands comes up to fist his shaggy, sweaty dark hair, her head pressed to the column of his throat. Her entire body is shaking and he smirks against her hair, more than a little pleased with himself. 

“I-” Rey gasps out, “Uh-” 

“Here,” he murmurs, grabbing at a water bottle tangled in the sheets. He uncaps it and presses it to her extended hand. Rey barely pulls away from him to drink the entire thing, still holding onto him. He’s hard, fully naked, and he knows she can feel his erection brushing her ass, because she keeps subtly repositioning herself to tease him. 

“Rey, we don’t have to,” he reminds her. She lifts her hips bonelessly, letting him guide himself into her, then slumps against him. She hums as he starts rolling his hips, jolting a little when he reaches down to touch her.

“Too much,” she rasps. He takes his hand away. She’s shuddering with sensitivity, and he goes to lift her off him. She shakes her head, rolling her hips down against him. 

“Just- Just don’t touch my clit,” she says, then shudders. He’s pulled vaginal orgasms out of her before, and he bets he can get one out of her today. He grabs her hips, pulling her down on top of him and biting at her neck. 

Rey keens. It gets a little blurry after, her heat and warmth, her skin between his teeth and her whimpers in his ears. He’s panting in her neck as she goes completely limp in his lap, realizing they’re both sticky and a little soaked in the crotch region.

“Did you cum again?” He asks, carefully lifting her off of him and settling her on her side. She shoves a clump of sweaty hair out of her face, whining when he takes his hands off her entirely.  
“Yeah,” she wheezes, watching him take off and tie off the condom. She slaps his ass when he walks back over to her on the bunk, squeezing with a shaking hand.

“You’re incorrigible,” he murmurs, kissing her temple and tugging on a pair of boxers. He finds her a shirt and a pair of underwear, dressing her limp form. She needs to pee, and they both need to clean up. Rey wraps her thin arms around his neck, panting tiredly into his throat.

“I really wore you out, huh,” he says, settling her on the floor of the shower. He turns the water on, making sure she pees while they wait for it to warm up. Rey looks up at him, pupils blown, grinning up at him as he settles her beneath the spray. He joins her, pulling her into his lap. She’s blissed out and fucked senseless, letting him wash her hair and skin. He smooths conditioner into her roots, letting her settle against the wall of the shower as he washes himself then rinses it out.

“Ben,” she mumbles, “I’m cold.”

“I’m gonna get you back in bed, baby. I promise.” 

They curl together under the sheets, Ben pressing water into her hands. Rey pillows her head on his chest, breathing deep and even.

“We’re like, really good at that,” Rey mumbles. Ben runs a hand through her damp hair, smiling. She’s right. He keeps combing his fingers through her hair, until she’s boneless for a whole different reason than being well fucked. She’s practically purring, clinging to him, turning her head to look up at him. 

“I love you,” she says, cut off by a jawbreaking yawn. Ben begins to braid her hair back away from her face as she looks at him, one hand coming up to trace down his scar. 

“I love you too, sweetheart,” he tells her, tying off the braid. Her eyes are closed, clearly asleep. He rolls them so he can spoon her, draping an arm over her middle. 

“So much,” he whispers, closing his eyes.


	2. Meeting Rey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose meets Rey on Jakku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of disordered eating and forced starvation.

They don’t quite crash land in Niima outpost, but it’s close. Ben is swearing up a storm the entire process, and once they’ve drifted on their landing gear in the sand, he stands up on wobbly legs and goes straight for the whiskey as Finn emerges from the gunner’s seat. Poe is still in the cockpit, white knuckling the armrests of the seat. Rose rolls her eyes. 

“Oh, come on you big babies. It wasn’t that bad,” she snorts. 

“Easy for you to say!” Finn yelps, “You were safely strapped in!” 

“We need fuel,” Ben breathes, setting down the whiskey, “and something to patch the leak in the tank from that fucking blaster bolt.”

“I can find parts,” Rose says. She needs to get off this kriffing ship. She stands up and cracks her back as Finn drifts into the cockpit to talk to Poe, grabbing her boots. Ben levels her with a stare.

“I don’t think you should leave the ship alone here, Rosie,” he says, biting his lip. Rose rolls her eyes. 

“It’s Jakku, not a Hutt stronghold. I’ll be fine.”

“Rose-”

“You,” she says, leveling Ben with her own stare, “are not my mother, Ben Solo. I’m a big girl.” 

“I just worry,” he says. Rose lets him wrap her in a hug and kiss the top of her head, rolling her eyes. She’s known Ben Solo since she was 2 and Han pulled her and Paige out of a slaver’s caravan, and he’s been an overprotective ass since then. Between him and Paige, it’s a wonder she ever left Naboo. 

“I’m not three anymore,” she reminds him, grinning up at him. 

“The first sign of trouble, you come back to the ship,” Ben says, strained. He hands her her blaster, then an extra. The caution, Rose thinks. 

“Yes dad,” she grumbles sarcastically, swinging herself down the ramp of the Falcon. 

Jakku is hot, dusty, and depressing. She browses for parts carefully, keeping a lookout for anything sketchy. The people are sunburnt, washed thin like old blankets. Rose sees a tiny old woman scrubbing scrap with sand, and her brow furrows. She diverts her path toward her when she sees the pile of scrap she still has to work through, intending on helping when-

“Drop the blaster, little girl,” a voice snarls, a knife pressed against her throat. Rose would roll her eyes if she wasn’t shitting herself. She drops the blaster, lifting her arms up when someone nudges her shoulder with a stick. She squeezes her eyes shut as hands begin to pat her up and down, one squeezing her ass. Rose bites her lip. Please please please, she thinks, please let them get bored.

“OI!” 

The hands on her body unceremoniously drop, and the knife pressed against her throat slides away, nicking her skin. She gasps, snatching up her blaster and shooting one of the men in the knee. The other has been taken down by a girl who’s clearly a native of the place, the back of her long neck bronzed and freckled. Her staff rests against his throat. 

“You okay?” She asks, turning to face Rose. Her skin is soaked in sweat, deep bags under her eyes. The skin of her face is ashen, and one of her arms hangs limply against her chest in a makeshift sling. 

“Fine,” Rose gasps out, reaching to shake the girl’s hand, “I’m Rose.”

“You shouldn’t be around the Outpost alone if you’re not local,” the girl says, “it’s dangerous.” 

“I’m looking for a part. For a Corellian YT-1300,” Rose says, “think you could steer me towards one?”

The girl gestures to her to follow and Rose does, trying to ignore how shaky the girl’s legs are, how reliant on her staff she is. 

“What’s your name?” Rose asks.

“Rey,” the girl says shortly. She points her toward a stall and Rose goes in, finding the part in a few minutes. She hands the vendor 10 credits. Rey watches her closely the entire time, wide hazel eyes cutting to the money Rose hands over. 

“I feel like I owe you for saving me from being mugged,” Rose says, when she notices the hungry look in Rey’s eyes, “what can I do to pay you back?”

“Portions,” Rey blurts out, the arm in the sling reaching out before Rey can stop herself. The girl cries out in pain, one of her knees giving out. Rose grabs her good arm to keep her from falling, then helps her into the shade. The girl is gasping in pain, and she slumps against a tent pole, wiping sweat from her face. Rose hands her a canteen but the girl waves it away.

“I’m fine,” she breathes, “If you’re going to repay me, give me portions. Haven’t” she doubles over at the waist, panting. Rose rests a hand on the back of her neck, “Haven’t eaten in days.”

“It’s okay,” Rose says, “the water is just because I think you could use some. What’d you do to your arm?”

“Fell,” Rey murmurs. Rose presses the canteen to her mouth. The girl starts gulping water, too fast for Rose’s comfort. When she takes it from her, to keep her from making herself sick, the girl lets out a sharp cry and swings for Rose’s face. Rose grabs her fist. The girl’s reflexes are slow and dull. She’s dehydrated, definitely malnourished.

“Rey, do you have anyone I can take you to?”

The girl shakes her head.

“Just me,” she whispers, “nobody ever came back.” 

Rose takes her to the Falcon. Ben meets her at the ramp, letting her shuffle Rey into his arms. He grimaces as he scoops her up and she screams, eyes fluttering. 

“Easy,” Rose snaps, “her arm is broken.” 

“A stray? Really, Rosie?”

“Shut up, dickface. Take her inside.” 

~

Rey wakes up comfortable but panicked. This isn’t her AT-AT, and the pain from her arm is dull for the first time since she’d broken it a week and a half ago. She feels fuzzy, tired and a little sick. Drugs. She’s been drugged. She sits up sharply, staring around her to get her bearings even as her head begins to spin sickeningly. There was a woman. Rey saved her. The woman gave her water. Then what? She can’t remember. She swings her legs over the side of the bunk, plants her feet on the floor, and stands up. 

She’s on her ass in seconds. She’s so weak. She’s so hungry. She has to get out of here, so she crawls. She’s only got one working arm, but her broken one has been mended and wrapped in a cast. Whoever took her they must not want her in pieces. 

“Hey!” It’s a man’s voice. Rey drags herself faster toward the open ramp. Hands wrap around her and tug her to standing, one cupping her head. She screams and bites at the hand touching her face, kicking frantically. 

“Easy! Easy, come on, you’re fine!” 

The man is massive, shaggy dark hair and pale skin. There’s a scar on his face, long and jagged. Something drives her to reach out and touch it, calm and content washing over her. She traces it with a finger before she realizes what she’s done. She yanks her hand away. 

“I’m Ben,” he says, still holding her face. She nods. 

“I’m Rose’s older brother. You’re on my ship. We’re still on Jakku. Thank you for saving Rosie.” 

“I- I have to go home.” 

“We’ll take you,” Ben says softly. He sets her on a bench, hands her a glass of water. Her arm is starting to throb. 

“We had to re-break it.” 

“Oh,” she says faintly. 

“Do you want something to eat? Rose told me it’s been a while.” 

“Yes,” she whispers, cheeks flaring red. Ben offers her a hand and she doesn’t take it, just stares. She’s perfectly fine on the floor. Her mouth is dry like ash. 

“Can I get you up,” he asks, hand still out. Rey shakes her head. He’s being really nice to her. What does he want? The man sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“Stay there,” he says, “I’ll bring you back something to eat.”

“Water,” Rey croaks out. Ben nods.

The food he presses into her hand tastes like nothing, and she scarfs it down. 30 minutes later she’s crawling toward the open ramp, mouth filling with saliva. Ben cups her forehead as she vomits into the sand, spitting. She stares over the ramp at the food she wasted, tears springing into her eyes. 

“Please,” she rasps, “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry for what,” Ben murmurs, rubbing her back with the hand not cupping her forehead. Rey just keeps staring into the mess in the sand. She’s starting to shake, her breathing coming faster. Her mind spins with memories of getting sick as a child, of Plutt slapping her across the face for throwing up. Will Ben do the same thing? Her arm throbs in its cast and she falls forward, gasping for air. She curls into a ball, covering her head with her arms. 

“I’m sorry,” she gasps, fisting her hair and trying to make herself as small as possible, “I’m so sorry, please-”

“Ben!” She recognizes that voice. It’s the girl from the outpost. Another person to be furious with her for getting sick. She lets out an undignified sound of fear. 

“What happened?” Rose asks furiously. Her small hands touch Rey’s cheek and Rey bites her, terrified. Rose jerks back with a cry.

“Rey?” 

“Rose, go get a blanket and a pillow and set her up on the couch near the dejarik table. Poe, water. Finn, can you help me get her up?”

“Please,” Rey wheezes. Her head is throbbing and her entire body aches. Nobody has hit her. Why hasn’t anyone hit her. 

“Nobody is going to hit you,” Ben’s voice says, near her ear. His hand cups her cheek, one arm sliding under her back. He lifts her into his arms.

“Put me down!” She shrieks. He sets her feet on the ground and grabs her around the waist when she starts to fall. He carries her as she sobs into his neck, waiting, still waiting to be punished. He settles her on a thin couch, pulling a blanket over her.

“I’ll start an IV,” Rose murmurs. 

“Glucose, Rosie.” Ben says. His broad hand smoothes Rey’s hair back. Why isn’t she being punished?   
“Nobody is punishing you, Rey,” his voice says. She forces her eyes open, reaching for his scar. She needs to touch it. He lets her, taking her hand in his. 

“Sleep,” he says quietly, “you’re safe.”

“I need to go home,” she warbles. She needs her things before people steal them, and she says as much.

“Okay,” Ben whispers, “tell me how to get there, and I’ll get your things.” 

She does, breathlessly, vision winking in and out as she gasps through directions, Ben’s hand still in hers. Rose comes in, sticks a needle in her tender skin. She feels something cold in her veins. She can’t stay awake anymore. Briefly, she feels someone press a kiss to the crown of her head. 

~ 

“Thanks,” Rey murmurs, when Ben helps her sit up. She’s been in and out of consciousness for the better part of two days, a needle feeding her fluids and vitamins into her veins. Every time she tries to eat she gets sick. Rose flutters around her, propping a pillow behind her back. 

“Have you thought about it?” Rose asks. Rey nods. Poe hands her water. Finn is sleeping, but he already told her what he thought.

“I’ll stay,” Rey rasps. She’s still feeling terrible. She makes sure her knapsack is within her line of sight. Ben had gotten everything she’d had in her AT-AT. She picks at the edge of the fabric her little doll is made out of. 

“But I want to know something,” she says, “I want your word you’ll bring me back here if I ask.” 

“Of course,” Ben says, squeezing her hand. She lets a minute shiver run through her. Something about Ben makes her feel safe. She kind of hates it, that she innately trusts her. It feels wrong. 

“Rey, get ready,” Rose says, with a grin, “Because our next stop is Naboo.”

“I’ve never been to Naboo,” Rey says, with a grin. 

“You’ll love it,” Ben says, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, “There’s green everywhere.” 

Rey’s heart flutters in time with her stomach as the Falcon takes off, her fingers clenching the blanket on her lap. 

“You ready?” Rose crows.

“Yep!” Rey shouts back.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey’s hand is limp in his. He wraps the blanket tighter around her icy skin, pressing a kiss to her temple as the Falcon shudders through hyperspace. Rose’s lips are in a thin line as she checks Rey’s pulse, injecting another syringe into Rey’s IV. Blood pools under the sterile dressing, highlighting just how pale her skin is. 

“It’s not good.” 

Ben nods tightly, brushing a sweaty clump of hair from Rey’s forehead. She moans, eyes fluttering. Her arm twitches, and she turns her face into his shoulder. Rose cups her neck. 

“She’s freezing,” Rose murmurs, “I’m going to get another blanket.” 

Rey’s head turns away from his shoulder, eyes open, mostly unseeing, cloudy and wet. Tears tangle in her eyelashes and her mouth opens in a silent gasp of pain. Ben tilts her chin up, trying to get her to make eye contact. She blinks up at him, teeth clenched.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he murmurs, cupping her neck as her head tumbles back and her neck goes loose. Rey moans again, trying to talk and rasping tiredly instead. 

“Take it easy, baby,” Ben says. Rey whimpers, face scrunching up. She’s feeling the pain, even through the injections Rose has been administering since they hit hyperspace. Ben rests his palm over her heart, pushing comfort through the bond. Rey shakes her head, squeezing her eyes shut. She makes a croaking sound, body going stiff. 

“Rose!” Ben yelps, just as Rey finally speaks. It’s not words, just a pained scream, her entire body shaking as she begins to sob in agony. There’s blood blooming on her bandages, and Ben presses down on the injury. 

“Please,” Rey sobs, squirming away from the pressure on her abdomen as tears leak from her eyes. Blood seeps through the fabric and onto his hand. Ben grimaces, shushing her as he waits for Rose. She blows into the room with another blanket, immediately going for the medpac. 

“She needs more bacta,” Rose gasps, “But it’s so deep- she needs surgery.” Ben grunts, tugging Rey’s tunic up and pulling the bandage off her injury. Deep, jagged gashes from her fall are oozing blood across her abdomen, the black and purple of bruising forming on her ribcage. Ben jostles her arm by accident and she screams again. 

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he murmurs, as Rose sprays more bacta on Rey’s cuts. Rey screams again, eyes rolling into the back of her head. 

“Fuck,” Rose bites out, and Ben nods, wiping the cold sweat from Rey’s skin with a spare bandage.   
He doesn’t leave her, sitting outside the medbay doors during the surgery to piece her insides back together and settling on a couch next to the bacta tank she’s submerged in. His mother comes in and sits next to him delicately, taking his fist in her hands and massaging his fingers into a flat palm. 

“You need to rest,” Leia says firmly, “and shower.” 

“I can’t leave her,” Ben croaks. He can’t remember the last time he drank anything or ate.

“She’s under heavy sedation,” his mother tells him, “and I won’t leave her side until you’re back. Take a night. Eat, shower, sleep in a real bed instead of on this couch.” 

He’s in a dead sleep when she wakes up, and her frantic, panicked cry over the bond makes him wake screaming, falling off the bed in a tangle of sweaty sheets and smacking his forehead on the concrete floor. Rey keeps screaming for him in his head, her own panic thrumming through his chest. He tugs on a shirt and runs, skidding around the corner and through the doors of medbay barefoot and in only boxers. 

Rey is thrashing on a medical table, tears streaking her face. As he watches, she throws a tray of instruments across the room with the Force and something glass shatters against the floor. His mother is trying to calm her down, holding her head so she can’t slam it back against the table in fear. 

“I’m here, I’m here I’m here I’m here-” he gasps, scooping her up into his arms and pinning her against his chest as she screams, kicking her feet against the metal of the table. He hears and feels a rib re-break against him and Rey’s screaming takes a new fever pitch. Someone is injecting something into her IV and Ben bear hugs her tighter, lowering them both down on a medical bed someone ushers him toward. His mother is still hovering, looking nervous, and she’s murmuring frantically to the doctor. Rey screams again as Ben settles them both down onto the bed. 

“Okay, baby, okay. You’re alright, baby, you’re alright,” Ben murmurs into her hair, still damp and sticky with bacta. He rocks them both side to side, mindful of her damaged shoulder. Blood is spotting the bandages on her stomach. She’s still fighting, but she’s starting to go completely limp in his arms. A sedative then. He can’t be upset about that, given that her rib broke again and she’s bleeding in his arms. He presses his mouth to her head, rubbing her back. Her chest hitches with sleepy sobs, her hazel eyes fluttering to look up at his face.

“You weren’t here,” she murmurs, voice raw from the breathing tube removal. His mother is with the doctor still, looking nervously at Rey. 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he tells her, stroking her hair back and easing them both down. He lays on his back and carefully arranges her to rest with her head on his chest, injured shoulder between them, bloody side outward. A nurse comes over, re-bandaging her side as she dozes and checking her vitals. His mother comes back, sitting in the chair next to the bed. Rey gasps in her sleep, her good arm flopping over the edge of the bed. Leia laces their fingers together, settling Rey’s hand on the mattress. 

“She wasn’t supposed to wake up,” Leia murmurs, “But she burned through the sedative too fast. They aren’t going to put her back in bacta- she woke up so terrified that she broke the tank.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Broken ribs, internal injuries, the gashes, and a broken shoulder. They surgically repaired the shoulder-there were a lot of torn ligaments and her rotator cuff was shot to pieces.”

“Fuck,” Ben breathes. Rey moans in her sleep, turning her head into his neck. 

They start weaning her down on sedation, and Ben sleeps in the cot with her because when he doesn’t she wakes up screaming. They’re half sitting up in the bed, Rey’s head on his shoulder, when Finn, Poe, and Rose burst through the door. Rey jumps, badly startled, and starts to cry. Her Force connection has been shaky and tentative from the drugs, and he snarls at all three of them, pressing Rey’s head to his shoulder to keep her from throwing something at them with the Force. She’s shaking like a leaf, her nails digging into his skin, but Poe and Finn are too caught up in the excitement of seeing her conscious to notice her anxiety. 

“Sunshine!” Poe yelps, tugging a chair up to her bed. Finn leans in and kisses her forehead. Rey screams.

“Easy!” Ben yelps back, clinging to her to keep her from crawling off the bed. He’s pissed. Rey tries to headbutt him in the face and he presses her forehead to his neck. Rey whimpers, clinging to him. Rose approaches more calmly, glaring at Finn and Poe, and gently rests her hand on Rey’s neck. 

“You two are idiots, you know that?” She hisses, “I told you she was skittish.”

They have the good graces to look chastened. 

They release her to his care after two weeks. She’s still healing, and she clings to his arm as they stumble into the sunlit streets of Chandrila. She’s pale as she leans into him, breathing hard.

“Dad’ll be here soon,” he tells her, running a hand over her head. She grumbles, leaning up for a kiss.   
“My chest hurts,” Rey mumbles, yawning. He scoops her into his arms, letting her pillow her head on his shoulder. 

“You can have pain meds when we get home.” 

His mother has them in the best guest room in the house, the one with big windows looking over the garden out back. Rey lets herself be babied by Leia long enough for him to eat and shower. She sinks into the bath tiredly once he’s ready for her, warm oil floating on the surface of the water. 

“I’m so fucking glad to be out of that morgue,” Rey grumbles, tilting her head back for him to wash her hair for the first time in 2 weeks properly. It’s sticky with sweat and bacta and Ben works extra shampoo into it. 

“You were miserable there, huh,” Ben says, rinsing through her hair. As he tucks her into bed, dressed in clean clothes, and kisses her temple, Ben thinks he’s never been happier to see her peacefully asleep.


	4. Nightmares

When Rey wakes up, she’s sticky with sweat and it feels like she’s boiling. She throws the blankets off, disgruntled at her rising internal temperature. She blinks, eyes gummy with sleep. Someone is mumbling next to her, and a flailing body part slaps against her bare skin. 

“S’hot,” she slurs, looping her leg out from beneath the blankets and rolling onto her stomach. The mumbling keeps happening. A sticky body bumps against her. She shoves as hard as possible, and the body shoves back. 

Hard. 

Rey wakes up fully with a sharp cry of panic as her ass hits the cool durasteel of the captain’s quarters on the Falcon. Sweat begins to cool rapidly on her naked skin, and she cranes her neck up to look at Ben on the bunk. 

Ben is moaning in his sleep, writhing in their sweaty sheets. Rey scrambles up, brushing hair out of her face and sitting down on the edge of the bunk. She smoothes a hand over his wrinkled forehead, down between his brows.

“Ben, wake up.” 

Ben tosses his head away from her hand, moaning. Rey grips his shoulder and shakes him, gently. He’s sticky with sweat and panicked heat rolls off his body. That’s why she woke up feeling like she was in a furnace. Ben is in panic mode, his back arching off the bed like he’s trying to get away from something in his head. Rey reaches for him again, setting her hand on his cheek and stroking her thumb across the sensitive, delicate skin beneath his eye. He gasps, then whimpers. He’s coming out of it. 

“Come on, love,” she murmurs, using her second hand to start combing his long hair back from his face. It had fallen out of the messy topknot he shoved it into the night before and it’s snarled and sweat drenched. Rey tugs an extra tie from his wrist. Ben gasps and sits up so fast he bumps her forehead with his chin and she jerks away, catching herself on the edge of the mattress.

“Sorry,” he wheezes, “Oh, fuck-”

There are tears streaking down his cheeks and Rey settles herself back down on the bed, thumbing them away. 

“You were having a nightmare,” Rey whispers, running her fingers through his hair. Ben leans forward, pressing his forehead to her chest. She tugs the rest of his body against her after adjusting, settling back against the wall of the bunk. She tugs his hair into a stubby half ponytail, scraping her fingernails across his scalp. 

“Rey,” Ben croaks out hoarsely, tangling their legs. His arms snake around her waist and squeeze, crushing her to him. She runs her hand down his back, resting it on his lower back. 

“You’re alright,” she says, resting her chin on the top of his head. His back is shaking, tears soaking into her bare skin. 

“You-”

“I’m fine. I’m right here.”

His dreams always involve her dying, somehow. A blaster bolt, a knife between her ribs, anything. She brushes her hand through his hair over and over, trying to soothe him into comfort. He’s still crying, but he turns his cheek to rest against her breast, liquid brown eyes staring up at her. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” she coos, “I’m not going anywhere.” 

She rubs his muscled back until he goes limp against her chest, dozing back off. She yawns, carefully readjusting them so she’s laying down with Ben resting against her chest. His legs are bent up to fit on the bunk. She presses a kiss to his temple, closing her eyes. 

“I love you,” she whispers into his hair. 

Ben breathes steadily, in and out, his breath fanning over her skin.


End file.
